The President of the Treasury Board voted for the Federal Accountability Act, which expanded access to information to a huge number of new agencies. For the first time in Canadian history in the House, every New Democratic member voted to withdraw access to information, to bring a cloak of secrecy over the Canadian Wheat Board.

The NDP is no party to lecture this government on access to information. We are the ones who made it more open.

Mr. Speaker, on the subject of accountability, the Muskoka minister has brought a new innovation to Conservative cover-up. It is use of a personal email account to conduct government business. There is no need to worry about access to information. There is no need to worry about doing a little government business on the side.

We have emails from the minister to the mayor of Huntsville.

Would the government agree to release the rest of the minister's G8 slush fund emails?

I have some good news for my friend from Davenport. Not only will the President of the Treasury Board be at that committee hearing, but I have even offered to go with him to assist in any way I possibly can. I do hope the member for Davenport will be there. He can rest assured that if the President of the Treasury Board does not have the answers, I will be more than pleased to stand up and respond.

Mr. Speaker, after 113 days, the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka still refuses to answer to Canadians. We recently discovered that he personally intervened to have a project included in the building Canada fund. The Prime Minister's guide for ministers states, and I quote, “You must answer all questions pertaining to your areas of responsibility...”.

So why does this minister refuse to abide by that and to answer questions that pertain to him?

Mr. Speaker, the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka should be capable of answering for his actions to all Canadians.

The NDP revealed that he found a job for one of his friends and that he intervened in an internal review of G8 spending. Through his personal emails, we were able to see what happened with the $50 million of public money.

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to tell my colleague that the President of the Treasury Board will appear before a House committee to answer all the questions that members have for him. I have good news for my colleague: he will get two for the price of one, because I will be there too. As always, I am happy to answer questions with my colleague, the President of the Treasury Board.

Mr. Speaker, doctors around the world have been saying it, the CMA has been saying it, and now the Supreme Court has said it unanimously: Insite in Vancouver saves lives. That is why the Liberal government supported it from the start, choosing life over death.

With today's hearty slap in the face by Canada's highest court, will the government finally admit it was wrong in its ideological attacks against Insite? What does the minister mean by “We will be reviewing it”?

Will the government respect the Supreme Court's decision and stop attacking Insite?

The greatest backlogs today in immigration deal with parents. We have Canadians who are trying to get their loved ones, their parents, to be able to come to Canada. The government, more than any other government in the history of Canada, continues to add to the backlog. It fell short in the area where there is the greatest demand in terms of trying to get families reunited.

Why does the government not believe in allowing parents to be reunited with—

Rick DykstraConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, the louder the member yells does not necessarily mean it is going to bring more people into this country.

I can tell the member one thing: when we took over government, we were left with a mess from the previous Liberal government in terms of backlogs, in terms of its fear of making decisions with respect to immigration, its fear of increasing the number of people who could come to this country to start a new life.

That fear is gone. This government understands where it is going on immigration. It understands why it is doing it. Families across this country understand what this government is doing.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for this government to agree to study hydraulic fracturing. The problem, however, is that this practice is already taking place. Communities have good reason to be worried about the chemicals being used and the groundwater being contaminated.

Will the minister respect the government's mandate, which is to regulate this practice, instead of simply waiting until new studies are published?

Michelle RempelConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, I would remind my colleague that this is mainly a provincial and territorial responsibility.

I had the pleasure of debating this very issue during adjournment proceedings last week. I can tell the member opposite that a greater understanding of environmental impacts will benefit us all. That is why we have put forward two studies that we mentioned last week.

Let me remind my colleague that our government has created nearly 600,000 new jobs and that responsible development of shale gas has a potential to create even more.

Mr. Speaker, not only does hydraulic fracturing require enormous amounts of water, but the process also uses a toxic brew of chemicals to pollute groundwater. Exactly what chemicals remains a mystery, as companies are not required to disclose that information.

When will the government close the regulatory loopholes and force companies to reveal what chemicals they are injecting into our groundwater?

Michelle RempelConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, as I said last week in adjournment proceedings, the Minister of the Environment has recommended a proposal to the Council of Canadian Academies for an independent expert panel assessment of the state of scientific knowledge on potential environmental impacts. He has also asked it to review mitigation options.

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government is focused on the economy and helping create jobs with the next phase of Canada's economic action plan.

In fact, across Canada small businesses are expanding with help from job-creating measures like the hiring credit for small business that was in the last budget. Manufacturers are also growing, with new tax relief for new productivity-improving machinery and equipment, a measure that was also extended in the last budget.

Can the Minister of State (Finance), the pride of Claresholm, Alberta, please update the House on the state of the economy and the impact of these specific measures?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chair of the finance committee, who is doing a great job on that committee, for a wonderful question.

In answer to that question, again today Statistics Canada has reported that July's GDP numbers have actually grown. That is good news.

Why have they grown? It is because we have a plan to get people back to work. We have a plan to increase jobs in this country. In fact, there are 600,000 more people working now than there were in July of 2009. The plan is working, and so are more Canadians.

However, we do need to remember that the economic recovery is fragile around the world, and we need to be—

Mr. Speaker, there is concern across the country among many law-abiding Canadian citizens and taxpayers about the long arm of the U.S. tax collection department. Even the Canadian Bankers Association is upset. The Americans are trying to enforce their laws beyond their borders and are threatening Canadians to that effect.

So far, the government has offered Canadians tea and sympathy. Will the government do something a little more tangible? Will it set up an advocacy centre to actively inform and assist Canadians who are unfairly being put upon by the extraterritorial excursions of the U.S. IRS?

Mr. Speaker, certainly we are concerned with what is happening to many honest taxpaying Canadians who were not expecting this to be imposed upon them. The finance minister has spoken to his U.S. counterpart, saying in no uncertain terms that we do not want this unfair treatment to Canadian taxpayers who are honest law-abiding citizens. We are encouraging the U.S. to be very fair with our citizens.

Mr. Speaker, with no notice, Downsview Park closed the doors on the Canadian Air and Space Museum and ordered Canadian veterans to remove all of their artifacts. The historic de Havilland factory will now make way for a hockey arena.

Rona AmbroseConservativeMinister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, Downsview Park is a crown corporation that is at arm's length from the government, and this was a business decision that Downsview Park took.

As we know, this is a private museum, and I applaud the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages because he has directed his officials to see if the Canada Aviation and Space Museum could work with this museum to see if there is a way that it can accommodate its historical treasures.

Mr. Speaker, when I attended a meeting on Tuesday for the election of a new executive for the Canada-Israel group, I was most disappointed to see how few opposition members bothered to show up. Only three Liberal MPs and, shockingly, zero NDP MPs chose to attend. Let us compare that with the 60 Conservative MPs present.

Rick DykstraConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, it is very disappointing that not one member of the NDP actually chose to attend this event and that only three Liberal members attended.

Whether it is our refusal to participate in the Durban II and III conferences, standing up for a negotiated two-party solution between Israel and Palestine, supporting a national task force on Holocaust research, or becoming the first country to sign the Ottawa protocol, our government's record of taking a principled stand against anti-Semitism and standing up for the Jewish community is clear.